Linguistic Predictions II

Suppose extraterrestrials landed on our Earth I am sure they will be
greatly surprised to find that people on a small planet like Earth
cannot communicate freely and direct (without the help of an
intermediary i.e. an interpreter or a translator). Their astonishment
will grow further when they find out how much suffering this linguistic
diversity has caused so far. People's nationalities have been defined
foremost on linguistic grounds. Languages create different identities
and cultures. This on the one hand makes the world more interesting but
on the other hand prepares ground for tragic conflicts. The loss of a
linguistic identity doesn't necessarily mean the loss of a geographic
or ethnic identity but it will mean one obstacle being removed.

I would like to elaborate on this issue by drawing a comparison from
economy. In Europe, we used to have different currencies and in a sense
it was a nice feeling to see foreign currencies when we were on holiday
but no one can deny that the introduction of a single currency has also
solved a lot of problems. The advantages of a single currency certainly
outweigh the disadvantages by far if any. The EURO has set an example
and paved the way for a single, at least, official European language.
People can go on using their languages but we need a common European or
world language to make us strong in unity. People are afraid of the
loss of cultures and languages. However, cultures and languages have
never been static. They are destined to change. In the age of
globalization, information and communication technology, satellite TV
and fast travelling we have certainly come closer. We can save more
time and energy when everybody can communicate without any linguistic
barriers . I hope one day it becomes history and we can say: A long
time ago people on our Earth used to have different languages and we
wonder how they managed without a single world language.

English has already become global and no more the property of a certain
community. Nobody feels at a disadvantage when speaking English. It's
no more Germanic in quality because it has incorporated vocabulary from
nearly all languages in the world. This makes English indeed global.
Every nation can find a bit of its linguistic heritage integrated into
English. Moreover, its writing system has no diacritical points as in
some languages which make them difficult to use, pronounce and
communicate in writing. English has become a powerful tool and rich; it
has become simple and complex at the same time. Gender is nearly
non-existent because the article remains "the" whatever the gender and
the position in a sentence is. There are no difficult case endings and
sounds as in lots of other langauges which sometimes constitute
insurmountable barriers . We can express any idea most powerfully and
precisely. It has reached the level of maturity and deserves the label
of a global language. In addition, it sounds beautiful and appealing to
the ear or at least acceptable and learnable by the majority of people.


Regards
Jamshid

.

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